REWIND: 1999
Scene
UPFRONT
A MOVEMENT IS UNDERWAY TO UPLIFT SLAVIC VILLAGE’S MAIN STREET. WILL VACANT PROPERTY OWNERS BUY IN?
A STROLL DOWN FLEET AVE in Slavic Village will greet you with two dozen or so businesses and storefronts.
There’s the Lincoln Post—a bar home of the Polish Legion of American Veterans—off East 61st. There’s Stys Inc., off 59th, where one can get both used paint racks and forklifts. Or Bert’s & Son, hawking auto parts and machine wear on 53rd.
But there are large stretches that don’t feel bustling. More than half of those sleepy storefronts in ten blocks, a 2022 study by Slavic Village Development confirmed, are either vacant or simply used as storage.
It’s a fact of life in the neighborhood that’s led to a tough grey area for gung-ho politicians and community development organizations eager to see Slavic Village’s Main Street pumped back to life. A lot of that restoration will lie in convincing property owners to renovate, lease, or sell.
“It’s not just about saying, ‘Oh, let’s incentivize and get people to do these things,’ because a lot of folks really don’t want to do that work,” Shneur Kushner, Slavic Village’s director of development, told Scene on a recent walk down Fleet.
“They’re just here waiting for a paycheck,” he added. “We call them speculative landowners. It’s easier for them to just sit on the property, hoping that someone else will do the work—and they’ll be able to sell theirs and make money.”
These speculative landowners (colloquially: “sitters”) are at the heart of Kushner’s work, as he and other CDC workers in Ward 12 prepare to decide how to properly dole out $2 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding.
The idea to use it to breathe new life into a desolate Fleet Avenue, along with streets in Old Brooklyn and Brooklyn Center, belongs in part to Ward 12 Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer, who opted to dedicate an entire week, starting Monday, to shedding light on both the strategy and implications of those federal dollars being spent on bringing back Main Street quality to a corridor that has anything but.
On Tuesday, Maurer led a procession of business owners, CDC workers and
intrigued locals up and down Fleet Avenue, in an attempt to fact-find and present Fleet as it is—with its blank facades, its run-down churches, its strewn furniture and deflated balloons.
First-floor spaces, we saw, could be home to new boutiques and businesses, like the Philomena Bake Shop off West 54th.
Yet, Maurer’s reach can only go so far. Property owners on Fleet can get up to $200,000 of matched grants from this ARPA payout. And City Hall, under Council’s watch, will do what it will to fine those with buildings not up to code. (A lot of them on Fleet.)
In other words: Bringing a horse to water is one thing; making her drink is another.
Some owners think they’re “going to retire when they sell a property that is now in the ‘new Tremont’ for a million dollars,” Maurer told Scene while
crossing East 54th on Tuesday. “And instead they are dragging down the city and the neighborhood along with them, all because they refuse to invest in their properties.”
Tension between the American private and public realms rises to the surface anytime outside dollars dare to revive retail areas that once thrived.
One sees it in Shaker Square, where Cleveland Neighborhood Progress is betting $4.5 million in renovations—in paint, new roofing, new elevators—that the shopping hub can be revitalized for a post-pandemic shopper. Or, nearly a decade ago, in a Euclid Avenue altered, for better or worse depending on whom you talk to, by the installation of the RTA Healthline.
And it almost happened to Fleet back in 2017, when the street itself was repaved, bike lanes were painted, and filtration water basins were installed
along the street to catch all of the road’s water runoff.
But those who marched curiously down Fleet with Maurer on Tuesday seemed to be convinced that the corridor they walked down is fit to be next. For real this time around.
That energy is what convinced Josh Maxwell and Brendan Trewella, directors of Small Organization Solutions, to move their offices to the second floor of a now vacant Polish café. And of course new work. The two are at work on a master plan of the street, which will, Maxwell said, be a complete detail of “who lives on the street, who works on the street, who walks up and down the street.”
And pry into the inner reasoning (of lack thereof) of the so-called sitters.
“We just want to know: ‘What’s important to you? Why are you holding onto this property?’” Maxwell told
Fleet Ave. in Slavic Village |
Photo by Mark Oprea
Scene. ‘”How can we help you figure out a solution to this end that helps you and the neighborhood?’”
For businesses actually working and operating on Fleet, any confidence in Maurer’s plan rested, Scene found, in simple crime watch or ongoing cleanup.
“This area needs to be cleanedup nicely—people keep throwing trash everywhere! I can’t understand their nonsense,” Matthew Patel, the manager of the Slavic Village Market off East 64th, told Scene as he operated his cash register. “But I would say I have 80% good neighbors around me; 20% are bad.”
It was the latter that convinced Marie Kouassi, the owner of Braided Beauty, to relocate a few years ago to a storefront on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.
“It was a bad area,” she told Scene. “Someone broke in. And that was it.” –Mark Oprea
Cleveland City Council Targets Illegal Street Takeovers With New Legislation
Last Saturday, from 11:30 p.m. to 4 in the morning, hundreds of young adults from Columbus and Cincinnati drove to Cleveland in souped-up vehicles to deliver what can only be described as a citywide taunt.
Dozens of cars in at least 15 intersections spun in circles around filming teenagers or lit fires. Masked kids banged on party buses on I-90, while others hung out of passenger doors. Some even flashed pistols; others shot airsoft guns at police.
Cleveland police held an emergency Sunday press conference. Chief of Police Dorothy Todd appeared before Council’s Safety Committee to update them on a new task force to address the issue and to recount what measures, most unsuccessful, were undertaken the night of the takeovers.
On Monday, Council took its own steps. Three councilmembers—Michael Polensek, Blaine Griffin and Kerry McCormack—introduced legislation that would outright ban every plausible aspect of the street takeover, what’s been the nom du jour of what occurred last weekend.
Mirroring tougher laws that will go into effect statewide on October 24, the new amendments add and include punishments for just about anything a street takeover perpetrator could commit: burnouts, doughnuts, drifting, wheelies, stunt driving. All for, the amendment reads, “the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or safety.”
Most importantly the new rules could mean anyone involved, from the filmers to the drivers, could be found
guilty of at least a misdemeanor of the first degree. Which means license suspension anywhere from 30 days to three years. The new law would also allow police to take takeover-related car parts as “contraband”—wheels, tires, mufflers.
“No person shall participate in street racing, stunt driving, or street takeover upon any public road, street or highway,” the introduced legislation says, “or on private property that is open to the general public.”
Street takeovers, a dangerous merging of social media attention grabbing and aggro car culture, have gotten national media attention this year after a wave of interceptions in several American cities were shut down. Cop cars were lit aflame in Philadelphia; a girl was killed after a street takeover in Los Angeles.
Cleveland Police reported three warrants for arrests after the mass takeovers on September 28. Later last week, they followed up by releasing a dozen photos of teens mid-takeover and asked for the public’s help in identifying them. (Many wear ski masks or animal masks under the belief, and cry of, “No face, no case.”)
One arrest, made by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, hasn’t yet been confirmed as a street takeover suspect. No other suspects have been taken into custody.
Last week, Councilman Michael Polensek, the head of Council’s Safety Committee, asked Todd to explain what went wrong during and after Saturday’s takeover. Todd responded with a series of mea culpas and pleas for empathy.
“Every action or inaction taken by police will always be judged, not only by their superiors, by the media, by the community,” she said. “And we have to answer to the Department of Justice [Consent Decree] monitors, to the Cleveland Police Commission—and even city councils.”
Todd and Safety Director Wayne Drummond told Council that it was looking into deploying a half dozen drones, along with possibly implementing spike strips and installing metal plates at intersections, to make drifting impossible.
Regardless, Council wasn’t moved.
“This behavior is unacceptable and has put our citizens, visitors and businesses at risk,” Griffin said in a statement Tuesday. “The morale of the city has been shaken. We want action and that’s why we’re taking this important step. We have to hold people accountable.” – Mark Oprea
Canal Basin Park Redesign Aims to Pair Heritage With (More) Waterfront Access
The 20 acres of land off the first bend of the Cuyahoga River, and just south of Settler’s Landing, has seen a lot in the past two centuries.
Up until the 1870s, it was Canal Basin, the major entry point for ships from the Erie Canal bound for the Ohio. (It was apparently where Alexis de Tocqueville took his first steps on U.S. soil.) By the mid-19th century it was a rail hub connecting Pennsylvania and Indianapolis.
And in the past 50 years, Canal Basin’s done its best, despite the detriments of sprawl and slim budgets, to see fresh life as a city park. Evolution that hasn’t exactly balanced perfect design and clear homages to Cleveland history—criticisms that’ve been circulating since the Cuyahoga’s infamous river fires.
“This is where Cleveland started,” Mera Cardenas, the executive director of Canalway Partners, told Scene, standing fifty feet from the Cuyahoga. “I mean, this is where Moses Cleaveland would’ve landed in 1796. This used to be the western boundary of the United States!”
For the past few years, Cardenas has been working in tandem with the city and the county on planning for Canal Basin Park’s next phase, one that attempts to merge nicely its role in Cleveland’s history and its promise as a gathering spot in Cleveland’s future.
Such planning, which kicked off officially in 2013, came to a head last Friday, when Canalway, the city and their hired architects unveiled designs for what those 20 acres or so could look like in the decade to come. Plans that only solidify a certain future for the first mile or so down the Cuyahoga.
With bulldozers already moving for Irishtown Bend Park, and for the Thunderbird Apartments complex across the way, Canal Basin’s overhaul is bound to create a central parks cluster that will not only act as a node for the Towpath and the Lakefront trails, but as a mega draw for those eyeing a life in the city.
It’s a draw that’s long been worthy of a facepalm for weary Clevelanders: finally providing more public access to the waterfronts.
“It’s great, because so many spots here you’re so removed from the water,” Ryan Phile, 38, said sitting at a picnic table in Canal Basin. “Unless you have a boat in this town—you’re so removed downtown from the water otherwise.”
That redesign, shown in renderings and small-scale models displayed at last week’s event, shows connectivity and then some. Along with a re-done riverfront boardwalk, which will run from Settler’s Landing all the way to Center Street, a brand new Mile Zero Plaza will welcome runners and cyclists from the last leg of the Towpath. (Which
opened up next to a converted green space in 2022.)
And, as a nod to historical use, a marshy Canal Stormwater Basin, constructed out of Berea limestone, will sit precisely where the naval throughway of the 19th century used to be—dead in the middle of a playground, dog park and breezy gathering lawn.
Nina Chase is one of half of the principal architects that comprise Merritt Chase, the design consultants hired by the city. She told Scene that her and partner Chris Merritt used contemporary styles in landscape architecture—like how James Corner Field Operations did with Bibb’s Lakefront Master Plan—to help enlighten Clevelanders’ sense of their own history.
And keep things practical. The redone basin will actually, Chase said, harbor and treat nearby stormwater. And it’ll be host to one of the only playgrounds for kids situated downtown.
“We’re trying to bring back some of those components to make them really legible in the place and then make it a place that is attractive to families,” she said, standing above the model she and Merritt built.
“And of course be host to big events,” she added. “You know: music, big crowds, farmers markets—that kind of stuff.”
Department of Parks & Rec’s Jay Rauschenbach and Alexandria Nichols declined to say how much the construction would cost, though the designs could be, Chase suggested, in the “tens of millions.” (And be completed “by 2034,” Chase added.) Rauschenbach, who writes grants for Parks & Rec, told Scene that he’ll be looking into federal grant or city bond opportunities to pay for its build out.
Canal Basin’s overhaul, with its attention to family gatherings and kayak pull-ups and plethora of native plantings, will surely check off a range of boxes included in the Department of Parks & Rec’s master plan, which should be going live later this year.
For Nichols, who started as the first Parks & Rec director last week, Canal Basin’s redesign signifies a clear pursuit of better urban parks stymied by a tough reality. That the city doesn’t, as of now, own as much developable land along the river as they might like to.
“I think there’s limited lakefront or riverfront land that’s available,” she told Scene. “And I think whenever there’s an opportunity to incorporate green space into development—it’s always, always a win.” – Mark Oprea
NEXT ON STAGE
A slate of new venues is bringing fresh energy to the Cleveland music scene
By Mark Oprea
IF THERE’S A TRUISM FOR THE local music scene in the past few decades, it’s that the city’s reputation tends to tease its reality.
Cleveland is a music city. Cleveland is not a music city. You can make the argument for either.
The heart of the debate was on display recently in late August in the Foster Theater on the sixth floor of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Sean Watterson and Cindy Barber, owners of the Happy Dog and Beachland Ballroom, took the podium to tell a room of four dozen venue owners, singer-songwriters and local leaders the results of the Greater Cleveland Music Census — a months-long, data-heavy look into the assembled tapestry of the scene from its stages to artists to the machinery that makes it all work (or not).
The data was pretty much what you’d expect in the post-pandemic era: artists and venues are still struggling financially. Our bands, which bank half their income on local shows, lament “stagnant pay rates” and a “scarcity of music work.” Your average Cleveland musician, the Census tells us, is a straight, white male with little marketing who balances a day job with two to three gigs a month. Gigs that pay $308 on average. Meaning, if that same guitarist manages to book ten shows a month, he’s still barely cracking $37,000 a year.
Which begs the question: Is Cleveland in need of more venues? The answer, according to the Census, was yes. To draw more acts to Northeast Ohio, to diversify the offerings, to build an infrastructure where everyone from singer-songwriters to techs can grow and thrive.
In Watterson and Barber’s minds, Cleveland’s music scene doesn’t bloom if its musicians, venues and fans aren’t in clear-eyed harmony with one another. If bands can’t eat off the cover payout. If show bookers are posting flyers alone. If fans, piqued at Cleveland’s potential to be a crown music jewel in the Midwest, can’t find a decent show to go to on any night of the week.
“If you want to plan for success, you’ve got to plan to take care of the people who are there, who are
making it attractive,” Watterson said at the Rock Hall podium. “I mean, we are a music city.”
Judging by the number of new venues that have sprouted up in the past
Spotlight Cleveland
year and the number of upcoming ones debuting soon, the traction is there. Here’s a look at all the changes.
Two-dollar Black Labels and Little Kings. Four-buck Great Lakes and Saucy Brew. Framed photos of Michael Stanley and Trent Reznor. “Every single song you hear on
Spotlight in Cleveland’s West Eighties.|Photo by Mark Oprea
What will be the Globe Iron in the Flats West Bank.| Rendering courtesy of AEG Presents
our house music—like 700 songs,” Spotlight Cleveland owner Corinne Henahan says, “is a band from Cleveland.” Situated on an otherwise dark corner in the West Eighties on Madison, Spotlight yearns to be the Cleveland neighborhood music bar to end all music bars. Opening in January 2021, Henahan and partner Jim Dewey set out to fashion, completely through their own handiwork, an ’80s-aesthetic hub for music some 300 nights of the year including comedy roast battles, Latin jazz, and, one recent night, world famous turntablist DJ Logic. “He showed up and played to 22 people that night, in our corner bar,” Henahan recalls, near Spotlight’s fire pit outside. “That’s what we’re going for: a secret listening room for side projects.”
The Globe Iron
The first music venue to rise in the West Bank of the Flats since the Music Box in 2014, the Globe Iron will be a major rehab of—you guessed it—an old and abandoned iron facility in the shadow of the Main Avenue Bridge. Set to open to crowds in early 2025, the Globe will have space for some 1,200 concertgoers in a black box interior, with second-story VIP areas and a limestone courtyard for possible outdoor shows. (And weddings, of course.) James Carol, the Globe’s incoming show-booker, envisions the venue being a “step up” from the Grog and the Beachland, and slotting a range of performers—from locals like The Rosies to nationally-renowned folk rock heroes like Caamp. “I’d like to go from an EDM artist to a singer-songwriter to a rock band to a hip hop artist,” Carol tells Scene. “No matter what different genres being offered, I want everybody to kind of look at this place and be able to say, ‘Wow, all right, this is what I want for this show.’”
The Odeon
Long a fixture along the Cuyahoga River, the Odeon is a pretty good metaphor for the historic part of the Flats East Bank on Old River Road: aging, relatively abandoned, but worth restoring, after multiple false starts, into something new. Since 2022, GBX Group, the Midtown-based preserver of historic buildings, has worked to raise some $850,000 to fit the Odeon for reopening—for building out its main stage, adding a VIP area, modernizing its sound and lighting equipment and stripping out its old green rooms. (But keeping its industrial chic facade.) By next spring, GBX representatives said, with aid from historic state tax credits, the Odeon could (finally) see life again. “We’re
going to be very diverse and inclusive in our musical choices and genres,” Kismet Koncert’s Mike Brown, who will manage the Odeon, says. “So, I mean, anything that we feel is fitting to sell a ticket.”
Jolene’s
If you were to send an ambitious Clevelander down to Nashville’s Broadway Street and have them return with a million-dollar business idea, you might get something like Jolene’s. Intended to wake up a somewhat sleepy East 4th with three floors of Country & Western, Jolene’s is the brainchild of restaurateur Jason Beudert, who’s hot off the success of Geraci’s, STEAK and Lionheart. Filling in a spot that hasn’t
flourished since the days of the Greenhouse Tavern, Beudert envisions youthful, high-energy country DJs and bands all week—on Jolene’s elevated bar inside, and playing its saddle-lined rooftop outdoors until two a.m. (And eating fried chicken from Sauce the City.) He’s looking to pay a bit more for quality acts, both Appalachian and rooted here. “I think our goal is to get as many local bands as possible,” he says. And raise them up right. “I’m hoping that what we do at Jolene’s is going to launch that next generation.”
Little Rose Tavern
What Spotlight is to the West Eighties neighborhood, Little Rose Tavern is to Jefferson. The two West
Side venues, both neighborhood bars that kicked off during Covid, aim to book without blinders on—noise rock to bar blues—and seem to operate sans formalities. Such spirit seems embedded in Little Rose owner Roseanna Safos, a punk musician who bought the tiny place with a front patio about four years back. Her attitude runs throughout the spot, from its sound equipment (a “busted-up board”) to its food specials (“Mom Style Tacos”) to Polaroids dotting the walls to Safos’ own mood about the truckload of Music Census data. (“Sounds annoying,” she says.) All comfort food for passing-through bands. As is Safos’ theory of finances: every band gets 100 percent of the cover charge. “I just feel like venues should pay the people,” Safos said,
The Odeon is set to reopen in “early 2025.”|Photo by Mark Oprea
Spotlight hosts a weekly open mic.|Photo by Mark Oprea
working the grills as Chicago’s Plastic Crime Wave Syndicate tore up the “stage.” “I mean, is that your money? The bands brought the people. The bands made the money.”
Phantasy Nightclub
“It wasn’t the place you’d dreamed you’d end up,” Trent Reznor once said about the Phantasy, “but it helped shape and motivate and influence the sound and spirit of things.” What was once home to, in part, the birth of Nine Inch Nails has required a slog to try and resurrect since the club closed in 2018. For the past few years, the former metal and punk club has been in the hands of West 117 Development, which has, since 2021, positioned the Phantasy as a natural extension of its LGBTQ-friendly mega-club Studio West, a block north. “Over $1 million,” West 117 founder Daniel Budish told Scene, has been used to rid the building of asbestos, modernize the utilities, upgrade its “ancient electrical”—all to prepare for a much meatier renovation. (Whenever that may be.) Music-wise, Budish said that he foresees the Phantasy responding to one of the demands of the Music Census: a need for queer(er) stages. “We imagine a huge diversity of acts in the space,” Budish told Scene. “But the driving force will remain trying to spotlight the LGBTQ+ community.”
Baker Hall at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Last October, hundreds of city politicians, sports team owners, Motown legends and local musicians gathered at the Rock Hall plaza to celebrate both the museum’s 29th anniversary and the groundbreaking of its $135 million expansion. But the significance underlying that new space was somewhat overlooked: Baker Hall, a multi-level
venue that will fit roughly 1,400 concertgoers, could be the most appealing Downtown place for gigs in the next few years. That’s part of Lisa Vinciquerra’s intention once Baker Hall is running in 2026. Vinciquerra, the rock whiz with a tough-to-pronounce last name, told Scene she’s planning to look local to help fill Baker Hall. Like those she’s hired for plaza summer shows: LILIEAE, Apostle Jones, LoConti. And pay them Rock Hall wages. “Honestly, I bet cover bands make more money than original acts, but those aren’t the bands I want,” she said. “I’d love to change that.”
The Treelawn
To jazz aficionado Eric Hanson, a treelawn is a word with particular significance in his heart. He once named a past band after it, as he did a booking agency. And the name extends to the former Slovenian social club he opened with Cindy Barber last February. “I just think it’s a cool concept, between the sidewalk and the street, the private and the public,” Hanson said. “It’s kind of a grand metaphor.” A true-blue jazz club in Cleveland is a rare thing, especially after the recently failed attempt to revive Nighttown in Cleveland Heights. Though the Treelawn has a large-capacity Music Hall, Hanson strives to keep its front-ofhouse Social Club (a 100-seat bar and stage) booked five times a week with up-and-coming acts, like Tim Picard Quartet and Gregby Camp, Jr. As well as veterans, like saxophonists Ernie Krivda and Howie Smith. “But we’re overwhelmingly local—I’d say seventy-five percent local,” Hanson says. “And we’re trying to book more.”
Variety Theater
Out of all the new venues Clevelanders could attend before the end
of the decade, the Variety may be the most storied: It opened Thanksgiving Day, 1927; it was once operated by Warner Bros; it hosted, in the 1970s, acts like Stevie Ray Vaughn, R.E.M. and Motörhead. (The latter set a sound record of 130 decibels there, in 1984.) Such historicity— and the Variety sitting dark for three decades—is what attracted Kelly Flamos to try and resurrect it. Today, pressed with a $14 million cost sheet, Flamos is hoping to raise that money to, one day, both reopen the Variety and increase its seating, from 1,900 to a notch above 3,000. As for how the venue fits into Cleveland’s repertoire, Flamos has considered putting extra attention on touring hip hop acts. “I’m gonna always strive for the ideal of creating a space that’s so for everyone just because that’s where I want to be, where everyone’s welcome,” she said. “I don’t want to, like, put off elitist vibes at a venue I’m behind, you know?”
The Roxy
What if Mahall’s had a youngeryet-more-spacious brother? That’s the spirit of The Roxy, which opened in the former second-floor bowling alley of the Lakewood staple in late 2023. The space—not to be confused with the historic Roxy Theater, the downtown burlesque haven that shuttered in 1977—was key for manager Cory Hadje to invest millions with fellow Mahall’s backers. “We were hoping to build a venue that was kind of in between the capacity of the Beachland and the House of Blues,” he says, “because there’s really not anything between that 500- and 1,200-capacity range.” (The size “missing” from Cleveland’s industry, the Music Census tells us.) A leg-up that will do growing locals a solid—like guitar rockers On Paper, who played The Roxy last January, or Heart Attack Man, Lakewood natives who will be there this winter. As Hadje puts Roxy’s main base: “Bands that are moving up, but haven’t blown up, just yet.”
Dunlap’s
A 1937 Plain Dealer ad for Pacino’s Wonder Bar off West 32nd marketed the venue’s almost carnivalesque acts: Acrobat dancers. Male gypsies. A self-professed “king of comedy.” Today, that venue, now called Dunlap’s Corner Bar, carries on a similar vein. Since late 2023, after owners Nick White and Jason Madison bought the bar, the dive’s hosted underground punk, experimental tunes and, booker Hailey
Chase says, “a little bit of country and drag thrown in there.” (Most of that’s local bands that get 100 percent of the door revenue.) The whole aesthetic gives Dunlap’s, being nestled on residential block in Clark-Fulton, an island-in-the-mist sense of being. “I’ve heard a couple say that it has, like, Twin Peaks vibes,” Chase says. “Actually, I’ve had touring bands say that’s exactly why they wanted to play here.”
Crobar
The newest incarnation of the old Croatian Tavern on St. Clair started as a kind of self-premonition for Gerard Guhde. A veteran house DJ, Guhde would come up short when out-of-towners asked for recommendations. “I thought it was kind of ridiculous—there’s places that you could go dance, but it’s nowhere that I would go,” he says. “I mean, nowhere I would send somebody.” So, of course, throughout 2021, Guhde built that place himself. After two years, Crobar has become the de facto destination, on a dimly-lit corner in the center of Asiatown, for a shoulder-to-shoulder experience of electronic, house and disco. With its one pool table and tiled wall of mirrors and vinyl, Guhde’s brainchild bleeds head-bobbing retro so much that Crobar’s become a favorite for locals like DJ Marc Lansley and touring acts — those like Swede DJ Seinfeld, who regularly headlines European festivals. “After his show he told me, ‘I can play for 10,000 people, but the closest person to me is 30 yards away, ’” Guhde recalls. At Crobar, “‘I can see the raw emotion on people’s faces from track to track.’”
Mercury Music Lounge
With capacity for 500, the newly opened Mercury Music Lounge in Lakewood (18206 Detroit Ave.) fills a void for shows of that size in Cleveland. Which is part of the reason folks from The Foundry Concert Club and the Winchester Music Tavern decided to collaborate on the project. Rae Gentry (The Foundry) and Shane Motolik (The Winchester) met at shows at their respective venues and quickly formed a friendship that has now blossomed into a business relationship. And all the better for fans, who should see a diverse roster of acts both local and beyond. A grand opening kicks all the action off Oct. 11 and 12.
Gregby Camp, Jr. at the Treelawn Social Club.|Photo by Mark Oprea
GET OUT Everything to do in Cleveland for the next two weeks
WED 10/09
A Beautiful Noise
This musical charts how Neil Diamond, a guy who identifies as a “kid from Brooklyn,” became an international superstar thanks to hit songs such as “Sweet Caroline” and “America.” Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at Connor Palace, where performances continue through Oct. 27.
1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
Into the Woods
With a score that features tunes such as “Into the Woods,” “Giants in the Sky” and “No One is Alone,” this Stephen Sondheim musical rolls into the Hanna Theatre for an extended run through Nov. 10. Tonight’s performance begins at 7:30. 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
THU 10/10
Cavs vs. Indiana Pacers
The Cavs square up against a very good Indiana Pacers team tonight at 7 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The preseason game should provide a good look at what will be a season-long rivalry between the two evenly matched teams.
One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A group of would-be actors engage in “a joyful celebration of love lost, transformed and restored” in Shakespeare’s classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Great Lakes Theater production of the play opens tonight at 7:30 at the Hanna Theatre, where it continues through Oct. 27.
2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
Salonen Conducts Salonen
Cellist Senja Rummukainen joins the Cleveland Orchestra as it performs pieces by Ravel, Esa-Pekka Solonen and Sibelius. Esa-Pekka Salonen will serve as guest conductor. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Mandel Concert Hall, where performances also take place on Saturday and Sunday.
11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
FRI 10/11
Cesear’s Forum presents Lanford Wilson’s Ludlow Fair & the Madness of Lady Bright Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson wrote the two oneact plays set in the 1960s that’ll be performed tonight at 8 at Kennedy’s Cabaret, where performances continue through Sunday.
1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
Nurse John
Host of the popular I Beg Your Pardon podcast, Nurse John (John Dela Cruz) brings his standup show to the Mimi Ohio Theatre tonight at 7. Since Dela Cruz is a nurse by profession, expect to hear stories about what it’s like to work in the healthcare industry these days. 1511 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
Olivier Messiaen: Catalogue d’oiseaux
Tonight at 7:30 at Reinberger Chamber Hall, pianist Gregorio Benítez performs one of Olivier Messiaen’s most famous
pieces.
11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
SAT 10/12
Spooky Pooch Parade
Now in its 16th year, the Spooky Pooch Parade attracts hundreds of dogs to Lakewood’s Madison Park. Scheduled to take place from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. today, the event includes a festival within Madison Park, a parade and an awards presentation. It’s reportedly the only event of its kind within the region. Admission is free.
13029 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216529-6650, lakewoodalive.com.
What the Constitution Means to Me
Playwright Heidi Schreck imagines how the U.S. Constitution might change in the future in her Obie Awardwinning play. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Allen Theatre, where performances continue through Nov. 3.
SUN
Celebration Day
1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
10/13
To celebrate this year’s Rock Hall Inductees, the Rock Hall will host a free-for-Ohio residents event featuring daytime live music from local musicians such as the Joe Brown Band, Marcus Smith and the Rapscallions, TRUSS and the Mechanics. The festivities begin when the Rock Hall opens at 9 p.m. and continue until closing at 9 p.m.
1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, rockhall.com.
TUE 10/15
Outlab: Experiments in Improvised Music Musicians are invited to bring instruments or any sound making device (drum kit and keyboard provided) that can be used to explore collective group improvisation. Please bring your own amps if needed. The
The annual Spooky Pooch festival returns to Lakewood’s Madison Park. See: Saturday, Oct. 12.|Emanuel Wallace
monthly session begins at 8 tonight at the Bop Stop. Admission is free. 2920 Detroit Ave., 216-771-6551, themusicsettlement.org.
WED 10/16
Amina Figarova Sextet and the Matsiko World Orphan Choir Azerbaijani pianist and composer Amina Figarova wrote “Suite for Africa” while meeting students in South Africa. When a travel mishap placed her on the same flight as the Matsiko World Orphan Choir, an ensemble of at-risk Liberian children, the piece, which Figarova will perform tonight at 7:30 at the Tri-C Metropolitan Campus Auditorium.
2900 Community College Ave., 216-9876000, tri-c.edu.
THU 10/17
Avatar: The Last Airbender in Concert
A live orchestral rendition of this series’ soundtrack accompanies a nearly two-hour special recap of the animated series’ three seasons in this special performance that takes place tonight at 8 at the State Theatre. 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
FRI 10/18
Bootanical Bash
Today from5:30-8:30 p.m., the Cleveland Botanical Garden hosts a celebration of scarecrows and skeletons at its annual Bootanical Bash event. DJ Kris Koch will provide the spooky sounds. 11030 East Blvd., 216-721-1600, cbgarden.org.
Third Friday
From 5 to 9 p.m., many of the 78th Street Studios resident artist studios and galleries will be open as part of this monthly event. There will be live music, and Local West, a Gordon Square sandwich shop, will serve food. BARneo will have a selection of adult beverages as well. Admission is free. 1300 West 78th St., 78thstreetstudios. com.
SAT 10/19
12 Hours of Terror
This special horror film marathon that takes place today at 2 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre features a 50th anniversary screening of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
1390 West 65th St., 216-651-7295, clevelandcinemas.com.
Artist in the Atrium
Every third Saturday of each month, stop by the Ames Family Atrium between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to get a firsthand look at the art-making process. Each session provides the opportunity to engage and interact with a different Northeast Ohio maker during pop-up demonstrations and activities.
11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.
Haunted Harbor Yoga
The Greater Cleveland Aquarium kicks off the Halloween season with Haunted Harbor Yoga. The ticketed event, which takes place from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. will allow guests to work out in front of sharks, stingrays and a few skeletons. Five dollars from every ticket benefits Splash Fund education and conservation efforts.
2000 Sycamore Street, 216-862-8803, greaterclevelandaquarium.com.
I-X Trick or Treat Street
A popular Halloween-themed event, I-X Trick or Treat Street returns to the I-X Center today and tomorrow. There will be themed trick or treating houses, kiddie rides, “engaging” games and live entertainment. Today’s hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tomorrow’s hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
One I-X Center Drive, 216-676-6000, ixcenter.com.
SUN 10/20
Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Last year, the Browns crushed the Cincinnati Bengals at the beginning of the season. This year, the Bengals are more competitive thanks to the return of quarterback Joe Burrow. The two teams play today at 1 p.m. at Huntington Bank Field.
100 Alfred Lerner Way, 440-891-5000, huntingtonbankfield.com.
TUE 10/22
Lyrical Rhythms Open Mic and Chill
This long-running open mic night at the B Side in Cleveland Heights allows some of the city’s best rappers and poets to strut their stuff. The event begins at 8 with a comedy session dubbed 2 Drinks & a Joke with host Ant Morrow. The open mic performances begin at 10 p.m. 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-1966, bsideliquorlounge.com.
HOMESTYLE
P.K. Curry House delivers charm and flavor in Mayfield Heights
By Douglas Trattner
DWARFED BY CHAINS LIKE Starbucks, Taco Bell, Raising Cane’s and Applebee’s, P.K. Curry House is an easily overlooked treasure on busy Mayfield Road in Mayfield Heights. For many years, this small storefront was home to Taste of Kerala, a stellar South Indian takeaway that grew into a fullservice restaurant in Woodmere. For the past two years, this place has been winning back customers thanks to its homestyle Nepalese and Indian dishes.
The P.K. stands for the husbandand-wife team who run the shop with an outsize measure of care, attention and personality. That personality arrived in the form of a gentle chiding when I placed a pickup order through DoorDash and not through the restaurant’s own website. To guide my next transaction, the owner handed over a 10-percent-off coupon good for online orders.
P.K. offers a nice selection of Nepalese and Indian dishes, with the Indian items on the menu outnumbering the Nepalese ones three to one. If you like momos, the dumplings that hail from the
Himalayan region, you already have reason to visit here. These are some of the best around – and they’re offered in a variety of ways.
My favorite were the classic steamed ones ($10.59) served with a mildly spiced tomato-based sauce on the side. Sporting the characteristic twistpinched top, the tender wrappers give way to flavor ground meat or vegetable fillings. We also enjoyed P.K.’s jhol momos ($11.99), in which the steamed dumplings are served in a spicy souplike chutney.
Other than both being stirfried noodle dishes, Nepalese and Chinese chow mein are completely different dishes thanks to the spices and seasonings used. The version ($12.59) served here stars thick, hearty egg noodles, juicy roasted chicken and veggies in a savory, warm-spiced sauce. It’s garnished with chopped red onion, fresh cilantro and a lime wedge.
I went two for three with the Indian dishes. P.K.’s paneer biryani ($13.99) was fragrant, fluffy and layered with flavor and spice, but I found the lamb vindaloo ($18.59) sauce to be very thick and heavy –
almost paste-like. There was no such issue with the chicken korma ($14.59), starring fork-tender chicken in a faintly sweet, creamy and nutty sauce. Rice is included in the price.
I found that the kitchen did a remarkable job of nailing one’s requested spice levels, from mild to medium to hot. While clearly subjective terms, my dishes all managed to arrive perfectly spiced.
Trinidadian specialties shine at new location of Callaloo Café in Cleveland Heights
On most afternoons, you can find Kelvin Cadiz chilling on the side patio of his Cleveland Heights restaurant. That’s where his two offset grill/smokers sit, puffing aromatic smoke plumes into the air. From those grills come exceptionally flavorful foods like jerk chicken, rib tips and grilled whole chicken wings. I first met Cadiz a decade ago, when he opened Callaloo Café in Collinwood’s Waterloo Arts District. After a solid run in that neighborhood, the owner relocated his business to Lee Road, bringing his generous spirit and comforting Trinidadian fare with him. Thanks to word of mouth, the casual carryout-heavy eatery is making a name for itself with locals who love food. When I make my first visit – a year and a half after Cadiz opened his new restaurant – the owner says with his characteristic friskiness, “What took you so long?”
Named for the national dish of Trinidad, Callaloo offers a nice mix of traditional and contemporary Caribbean foods. The first item
I would recommend to friends is the roti, which is named after the flatbread despite it being served alongside a curry. That’s how vital and delicious roti is. Trini roti is warm, flaky and soft unleavened flatbread that’s busted up on the griddle before serving. It makes the ideal delivery method for longcooked meats like curried chicken or luscious bone-in goat ($16). That dish is accompanied by a side of curried chickpeas and potatoes.
Cadiz’ jerk chicken ($23) is similar but not identical to a traditional Jamaican. He does a stellar job of slow-grilling the meat until its fall-apart tender and spiced clear down to the bone. The chestnut-colored meat is glazed with mildly sweet sauce that gives way to honest heat. My choice of sides nets me orders of warm cabbage with peppers and onions and the namesake callaloo, a mellow stew of spinach, okra and coconut milk. For a more affordable taste of the house jerk, order the wings ($12), which include four whole wings.
The concise but fluid menu also offers stewed chicken, steamed whole red snapper and contemporary starters like nachos, quesadillas and burritos. Those quesadillas ($12) and burritos ($12) come with a choice of steak, chicken, fish or tofu and arrive crispy from the griddle. My burrito is stuffed with large pieces of flaky fish, crunchy cabbage, rice and beans. The addition of pineapple overwhelms an otherwise tasty quesadilla, in my case made with tofu and served with a mild and fresh tomato-based salsa.
CALLALOO CAFÉ
BITES
Coyoacán will bring the foods and flavors of Mexico City to Shaker Square
By Douglas Trattner
REYNALDO GALINDO’S MOTHER, Maria de la Luz Galindo, opened Cleveland’s first Mexican restaurant back in 1981. That restaurant, Luchita’s, was a staple on the west side for 40 years. For 20 years, the family also operated a Luchita’s restaurant at Shaker Square. And soon, the family will return to the Square with Coyoacán (13133 Shaker Sq.).
“We love this area,” says Galindo, who served as executive chef at both restaurants. “When we had Luchita’s, it worked great for us.”
Galindo is partnering with Jorge Sierra and Elisa Maria Galindo on the project.
Presently taking shape in the former Balaton space, Coyoacán will offer guests two different experiences in the same property. In the first room, diners will see the now-familiar fast-casual set up, where tacos, burritos, tortas, empanadas and bowls will be prepared to order from a hot and cold line.
The second room will be home to a bar and microbrewery – Ohio’s first Mexican-owned microbrewery, according to Galindo. The owners have partnered with Compass Rose Brewery in Raleigh, North Carolina to produce Mexican-style lagers both onsite and down south.
A separate menu and full service await diners in the barroom. There, the foods of Coyoacán – a historic neighborhood near Mexico City – will be featured on an everchanging basis.
“Every month they have festivals, such as the enchilada festival, and every month it changes,” Galindo explains. “So whatever they have over there, we’re going to have it here.”
The goal is to have the entire operation – including the brewery –up and running before the holidays. Plans already are in place to open additional Coyoacán locations in Northeast Ohio and in Raleigh. Coyoacán, says Sierra, is a special place that all visitors to Mexico City should seek out.
“We grew up there – it’s like an
oasis,” he says. “We wanted to share that place here.”
is on the other side of the universe. Tartine is a bit smaller. There’s nothing like this.”
Former Clifton Wine Bar Spot
La Ville Lumiere, a French Brasserie, Now Open in
Nearly three years after the Clifton Martini & Wine Bar shut its doors after a lease dispute with the landlord, the space has finally been claimed -- La Ville Lumiere (10427 Clifton) opened its doors two weeks ago.
The French-inspired brasserie is helmed by Chef Kevin O’Connell, formerly of the Cleveland Sandwich Co. After leases were set to run out on his two sammie shop spaces downtown, O’Connell was on the hunt for his next project.
The Clifton Wine Bar spot was an immediate draw.
“I didn’t know the space in its early incarnations before I got to Cleveland, but I saw the space when it was Clifton. I always thought it was so cool, the patio is insane,” he told Scene. “We signed a lease in three days and we kind of knew the direction we wanted to go.”
That direction is a classic French restaurant, a sort of white-tablecloth European gastropub, drawing on O’Connell’s previous tenures in L.A. and other cities and fitting a niche in the local scene.
“We’re not Chez, we’re not trying to be Chez. It’s fantastic and has its own market,” he said. “L’Albatros
O’Connell imagines guests dining early on oysters, salade lyonnaise, croque madame and other offerings from the all-day menu while transitioning to glasses of Champagne and French dips for happy hour and bouillabaisse, duo de canard, and coquilles SaintJacques à la Provençale for dinner.
“It’s traditional fare,” he said. “And we have our pastry chef from the French Pastry Institute in Chicago doing our baguettes, brioche, quiche, our own desserts. We have a butcher in house, all our steaks are cut here, same with the fish. There’s been a swing in the last decade toward communal table-sharing food, and this brings it back to traditional dining. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. These are tried and true 200-year-old recipes. It’s not my riff. We buy good product, treat it right and serve it right.”
The patio, a huge draw for the chef, can seat up to 65 while the newly renovated dining room sits dozens more.
Business, O’Connell reports, has been brisk so far.
“The reaction has been amazing,” he said.
Pulpo Beer Co. and the Kraken Room in Willoughby Have Closed
Pulpo Beer Co. has ceased
operations at its Willoughby location. A representative for the company has confirmed that the whole of the operation – Pulpo and the Kraken Room – is done.
Pulpo began as a sort of side project to Hola Tacos and Barroco Arepa Bar after owner Juan Vergara and his team moved into the former Brim Kitchen and Brewery in Willoughby. In early 2021, they fired up the brew kettles and began producing beers such as Blonde Mamacita, Medusa Hazy Pale Ale and Pulpo Libre MexicanStyle Lager.
At first, those beers and others were available only at Hola and Barroco locations, but before long, the company expanded distribution. Then, in late 2022, the brewery opened a taproom and kitchen in Westlake – in the former B Spot space at Crocker Park.
“Pulpo is closing due to the rising cost of doing business and brewing and mainly because we were really never able to get back up financially after being closed almost three months due to a flood earlier this year,” adds the company rep.
While no more beer will be produced under the Pulpo label, the Westlake brewpub will stay open.
Photo by Doug Trattner
THE KING OF CITY POP
Kishi Bashi embraces a range of musical genres on his latest release
By Jeff Niesel
FOR INDIE ROCKER
KAORU Ishibashi, who tours and records as Kishi Bashi, the music for a new album always comes to him first. After he has some idea of what the record will sound like, he begins to think about what themes he’ll explore in the lyrics. His latest effort, Kantos, followed that same trajectory; it comes off as one of his more conceptually complex and sonically adventurous albums.
“I was trying to figure out how to write the lyrics, and when I start thinking about lyrics, that’s when I start thinking conceptually,” he says via phone from his Santa Cruz, CA home. He performs with Sweet Loretta at 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 14, at the Beachland Ballroom.
The album was inspired by the cult-classic sci-fi novel series Hyperion Cantos, the writings of 18th century enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant and a trip Ishibashi took to the island of Crete.
A philosopher who also loves sci-fi, Ishibashi’s wife introduced him to Hyperion Cantos
“[Hyperion Cantos] is a cult classic novel, and it’s about the far future when humanity and AI have separated from earth,” he says. “They’re living separate lives, but they’re intertwined in the galaxy. There’s time travel too. I don’t know how to summarize it in a way that’s compelling, but AI taking over is something that sci-fi writers have talked about for a long time. It’s the kind of thing we fear, but it’s an inevitable future for us. I want to celebrate the fact that we can be excited about our inevitable future but warn that looking too far into the future
and forgetting about our present can be dangerous. There are still people in need who could benefit from being present. That makes it challenging.”
The album’s latest single, “Make Believe,” features rapper/ activist Linqua Franqa. With its mix of rapping and fluttering synths that give way to a beefy bass riff, the song evokes protofunk-rap from the early ’80s.
“I always liked rap and hiphop,” says Ishibashi. “I started with a groove. I was trying to sing on it, and the singing wasn’t compelling enough. I started rapping over it. I had my friend [Linqua Franca] on it, and there it is.”
Mixed by Tucan (Hot Chip, Jungle, Aluna) and recorded at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA with long-time collaborator, engineer Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster of Montreal, Toro y Moi) and British musicians, Kantos also features additional guests such as singer Zorina Andall and saxophonist Augie Bello.
“[Chase Park] is like my second home,” Ishibashi says of the recording experience. “Drew is a long-time collaborator and a
great engineer. The guys in the band are in my live touring band. I met them in Europe at festivals. They’re great. It was the sound I wanted. I flew them over from the UK to record the album.”
The album draws from Brazilian funk and Japanese pop, delivering a genre-hopping mix of music.
“It is kind of all over the place, but as a solo artist, aren’t I allowed to do that and be more eclectic than I could if I were a band?” says Ishibashi. “That’s my luxury. I can do whatever I want. I always loved funk and music from the ’60s and ’70s. Brazilian funk has always been influential. I wanted the album to be super groovy. I created music that was in that vein. I am nostalgic toward that. I like to give a nod to the music of the past that I love. I like to talk about it, and I know music writers love to talk about it too.”
The song “Chiba Funk” has a great energy, pairing upperregister vocals with a funky
rhythm section.
“One of the sounds that I realized my album was gravitating toward was city pop, a Japanese funk sound from the ’80s,” says Ishibashi. “It’s a genre that I wanted to experiment with. I also wanted to sing in Japanese, and I wanted to experiment with a new singing style that’s more throaty. I was just trying things out and put slap bass on it. It seemed appropriate.”
Ishibashi says he and his band embrace the album’s uptempo energy during the live performances.
“The live show is awesome,” he says. “The British guys [who played on the album] are here. They’re young and exciting. [Indie rocker] Mike [Savino] from Tall Trees is there. It’s been quite a blast, and it’s a good mixture of old and new tunes.”
KISHI BASHI, SWEET LORETTA.
Kishi Bashi.|Rob Williamson
LIVEWIRE Real music in the real world
WED 10/09
The Musical Box
This Genesis tribute act will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the British prog rock group’s album Selling England by the Pound by playing the album in its entirety. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the State Theatre. 1519 Euclid Avenue, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
THU 10/10
The Jerry Douglas Band
A veteran bluegrass and folk musician, dobro master Jerry Douglas comes to the Kent Stage tonight at 6:30. In addition to leading his own band, Douglas is a member of Alison Kraus & Union Station, a co-bandleader for Transatlantic Sessions and founder for the Grammy winner bluegrass supergroup the Earls of Leicester. 175 E. Main St., Kent, 330-677-5005, kentstage.org.
Kaleo
The Icelandic group has been touring with the Rolling Stones and recently dropped the Americana/folk single “Lonely Cowboy,” which serves as “a reflection on the recurring themes of mass shootings and overall gun violence that occur across America,” as it’s put in a press release. Expect to hear the moody number when the band plays tonight at 7 at House of Blues. 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
FRI 10/11
Coin
Initially, this Nashville-based pop band found a handful of other indie pop bands that could help it develop that part of the Music City’s music scene. The band self-released two EPs before signing to Columbia Records a few years ago after a successful showcase at the College Music Journal Conference; the current tour supports I’m Not Afraid of Music Anymore, another album of infectious pop tunes. The group performs tonight at 7 at the Agora. Aidan Bissett opens. 5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.
Ginger Root
Since his first release, a collection of tunes he refers to as “aggressive elevator soul,” multi-instrumentalist,
producer, songwriter and visual artist, Cameron Lew (aka Ginger Root), has been making handmade synth-pop, alt-disco, boogie, and soul. he comes to the Roxy at Mahall’s in Lakewood tonight at 7. The current tour supports the new album, Shinbangumi. 13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-5213280, mahalls20lanes.com.
SAT 10/12
Beachpark Fest
Named after a mix of the location and promoter putting the event together, Beachpark Fest was organized with the intent of celebrating the strength of the entire Midwest rock music scene. The lineup for the concert features locals such as TRUSS, LoConti, Blossom Park, Solon, False Teeth, GRANT and Off-Leash (formerly Detention). Other regional acts round out the bill. Doors open at 4 p.m. at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern.
15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.
Ekoostik Hookah
The grandfathers of Ohio’s expansive jam band scene — culturally and musically — have always maintained close ties to the Cleveland area and regularly venture up to these parts from their Columbus home base. The group performs tonight at 6:30 at the Kent Stage.
175 E. Main St., Kent, 330-677-5005, kentstage.org.
Opeth
Due out later this year, Opeth’s 14th album finds the metal band emphasizing the prog rock side of its sound. Several songs add a classic rock dimension too as Jethro Tull main man Ian Anderson contributes on flute and vocals. The group performs tonight at the Agora. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and Tribulation opens.
5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.
SUN 10/13
The Front Bottoms
Last year, this duo released its latest effort, You Are Who You Hang Out With, to wide acclaim. Recorded in multi-week spurts with producer Mike Sapone both in the Front Bottoms’ New Jersey studio and Ghost Hit Recording in Massachusetts, the album features the singles “Emotional,” “Punching Bag,” “Outlook,” and “Paris.” The group brings its tour in support of the album to House of Blues. The show starts at 7 tonight, and the group plays the club again at 7 tomorrow night.
308 Euclid Ave, 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
TUE 10/15
Everclear returns to House of Blues. See: Wednesday, Oct. 16.|Brian Cox
Tommy Castro & the Painkillers Singer-songwriter Tommy Castro, who is currently celebrating more than three decades on the road with his band the Painkillers comes to the Winchester in Lakewood tonight in support of the award-winning Tommy Castro Presents a Bluesman Came to Town. Expect to hear songs from it and maybe even a peak at a new album due out in early 2025. 12112 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-600-5338, facebook.com/ TheWinchesterMusicTavern.
Dispatch
The jam band brings its AMPlifying Democracy Tour to the Agora tonight at 7. In partnership with co-founding bandmember Chadwick Stokes’s charity, Calling All Crows, the show will promote the AMPlifying Democracy Campaign that “leverages the power of music to inspire, activate, and boost civic engagement during this critical election year.” At each show, fans will be engaged in activities that celebrate the democratic process and promote voting both nationally and locally. Lizzie No opens. 5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.
WED 10/16
Everclear
Last year, the veteran alt-rock act Everclear released Live at the Whisky a Go Go, a 17-track collection that features the live recording of the Los Angeles show on Everclear’s 30th Anniversary tour as well as two bonus studio tracks, “Sing Away,” a single addressing teen suicide, and the 2022 politically charged single “Year of the Tiger.” Expect to hear both tracks at tonight’s show at House of Blues. Doors open at 6. 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
SAT 10/19
Cloud Nothings
The steady build-up during a song like “No Future/No Past” is a terrific introduction to Cleveland’s own Cloud Nothings, an indie rock band that’s developed a national following. The group plays a homecoming show of sorts tonight at 7 at Mahall’s 20 Lanes in Lakewood.
13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-5213280, mahalls20lanes.com.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Acts such as Cher, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Mary J., Blige and Foreigner arguably should’ve been
inducted into the Rock Hall years ago. They’ll finally be enshrined at tonight’s event. Additional presenters and performers include Busta Rhymes, Chuck D., Dr. Dre, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa, James Taylor, Jelly Roll, Kenny Chesney, Lucky Daye, Mac Method Man, Roger Daltrey, Sammy Hagar, Slash and the Roots. The event takes place at 6:30 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
Longtime friends with both Steven (a founding member of the Jukes) and Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny has released more than 30 albums in a career that stretches back to the early ’70s. A Cleveland favorite, the guy has fond memories of the days when Kid Leo put him into the regular rotation on WMMS and always puts on a especially good show in Cleveland. He performs tonight at 8 at MGM Northfield Park — Center Stage. 10705 Northfield Rd., Northfield, 330-908-7793, mgmnorthfieldpark. mgmresorts.com/en.html.
SUN 10/20
Rise Against Rise Against’s most recent album, 2021’s Nowhere Generation, bristles with the kind of punk rock angst found in the music of acts such as Bad Religion and Anti-Flag. As a followup, the band surprise-dropped the five-song EP, Nowhere Generation II, in June 2022. On tour in support of the two albums, the hard rock act performs tonight at 6:30 at the Agora Theatre. Microwave and Spiritual Cramp open.
5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.
TUE 10/22
Hinds
Spanish indie rockers Hinds recently released their fourth album, Viva Hinds, which features the band’s first-ever Spanish language songs as well as collaborations with the likes of Beck and Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten. On tour to support the album, they play tonight at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. The show starts at 8. 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.
Shattering, galvanizing and very funny, Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me close reads an old text in new and breathlessly exciting ways." –THE GUARDIAN
SAVAGE LOVE worldview.
STRUGGLE SESSIONS
By Dan Savage
Dear Readers: It’s my birthday this week thank you very much — and I’ve retreated to a secret, undisclosed location (with my boyfriend! without Internet access!) to ignore, er, celebrate the occasion. So, in place of a regular column (reader questions, columnist answers) below you’ll find some questions I posted to Struggle Session, the weekly column where I respond to comments from my readers and listeners, along with some of the advice my readers had for the letter writers. “Never read the comments” is standard advice for anyone who goes online and it’s damn good advice —but Savage. Love is exception to that rule: it’s the one and only place online where you should read the comments, thanks to the wonderful community there. Dan
I’m(39F)datingaguy(34M)who is really wonderful. In his conservative home country, he was quite the Casanova, didn’t want to marry, and managed instead to have a pretty *ahem* robust dating life. Here’s the issue. He shared with me that when he was 32, he slept with a girl who was 16 or 17 years old. He had been her teacher when she was in elementary school. When they met again at 16/17, she was already married and pursued him because she didn’t like her husband (who was even older than him). He said he was only with her twice and then they broke it off.
I have no reason to doubt him because he openly shared this with me, and he clearly didn’t understand that by US standards, this is not ok. When I explained this to him (also noted that it was almost certainly illegal in the US) he instantly understood.
I’m struggling with this because it’s not ok due to her and his age at the time, plus the power dynamic difference. But by his culture’s standards, the only issue was she was a woman sleeping with a man who wasn’t her husband. I appreciate that cultural differences have some major implications here, and he seems to be very clear on how this would be regarded in the US. I’m just trying to sort my feelings out around this. Help?
Dating Is Flummoxing Feelings Somewhat
No one else should tell you how you’re supposed to feel about something. You feel what you feel. So, if what you’re feeling right now is just a little “Hmm, this is weird,” then you can put it in your memory hole, let the past be the past, try not to bring it up with him again, and it probably won’t come up in conversation.
If what you’re feeling right now is more intense, then probably it’s best to end the relationship. There may be other factors making this revelation uncomfortable for you, maybe subconsciously. There will likely be other things you find about his culture, the parts of the worldview that he still stands up for or sees as defensible, that are incompatible with your
If it were me, I’d drop the subject. But then, for me, I don’t see the American view of age and sexuality as an eternal truth, just where we set the bar. It’s not as though someone magically changes into a consent-capable adult at 12:01 AM on their 18th birthday. We set the age of consent as a safeguard, because relationships across those lines are likely to be coercive, but I don’t think that means any and all relationships across that line are coercive and nonconsensual.
Andrew
I can’t figure out what DIFFS wants or why. Does she want her boyfriend to understand or acknowledge that in our culture, a 32-year-old man having sex with a 16-17-year-old is not only unethical, but illegal? It seems as though he gets that, at least now that she’s explained it to him. Does she want an excuse to dump him or to think poorly of him? What kinds of feelings does she want to sort out?
The best I can make out, she wants to disapprove of him because he so flagrantly offended a cultural norm in her (and our) culture. But she wants to be open-minded enough to understand that in his culture of origin, the issues we would take may not be relevant. But then what? Yes, he did something we frown upon here. Although it was a non-issue to him at the time, based on his different cultural norms, he understands why it would be troubling to his US girlfriend. Does she require some sort of penance on his part so that she can give herself permission to continue dating him and considering him a “wonderful” guy? Does she think that if her friends or family knew about this episode in his past, they’d be unable to get past it and would judge her harshly for being willing to be with a man who’d do that? NoCuteName
Sixteen is the age of consent in most US states, so this would not have been “almost certainly illegal in the US.” In fact, it would have been legal, if considered creepy, in most of the US. You say your boyfriend understands that by more progressive standards, this wasn’t OK. Like Dan says in this column, men are pigs; you know this already. This one seems to know that what he did in this situation was not OK, that’s why he confessed this particular hookup to you. People make mistakes, DIFFS! Look at your past and answer genuinely, is there nothing you ever did when you were younger that squicks you out today? Give him the absolution he seeks and move on.
BiDanFan
Myoldestfriend has an extremely hard time cleaning herself and keeping her house sanitary. She weighs probably in 600 pounds range at this point, which she is happy with, and I couldn’t care less about, but it does make it hard for her to clean and do day-to-day tasks. The thing that has me writing is that she smells bad. I believe this is mostly because she has a hard time wiping and cleaning herself. But the smell is sometimes unbearable, and I’ve found myself avoiding her because it makes me sick to my stomach, especially when it comes to sharing food together. My friend has a significant history of trauma, which makes this a “handle with care” situation. I can’t just say to her, “You stink, let’s figure this out together.” I wish I could go in and clean her house for her — and I would be willing — but she would be mortified to know I think her
home is filthy. Instead, I keep finding reasons to not visit or not to stay long when I do. And it’s heartbreaking because I love this person so much and want to be close to her. I would love some advice.
A Longtime Friend
I think you either distance yourself because you can’t stand it and you don’t want to offend them by admitting their lack of hygiene offends you, or you intervene, respectfully and openly, and deal with the consequences of your own decision.
Is the smell from her, from stuff (old food? dead mice?) in her home, or something particular that can be addressed? At some point it’s a health hazard for her.
But trauma notwithstanding, if it’s that bad, she deserves to know and not just get ghosted, which may be easier on you but would suck for her, as you already know. You can’t make her glad to be told it’s gross, so don’t try to control her feelings. It’s already bad for her now, so you would not be making things worse for her, you’d just be exposing yourself to a share of the bad stuff (and it’s entirely legitimate to not want to do that, just saying, you’re not obligated to be a martyr OR a savior).
But if you do want to stay in touch, how much worse are you prepared to let it get?
SloMoPoMo
I’m guessing that ALF’s friend doesn’t get many visitors and possibly has few if any other friends, because unfortunately most people do negatively judge those who have obesity problems. (Nova has a great episode, “The Truth about Fat”, which explains why being overweight is not just a matter of lack of willpower.) And at 600 lbs., it’s likely ALF’s friend isn’t able to get out and about much, if at all. So, better for ALF to risk hurting her friend’s feelings with a frank, empathetic talk than to end up rarely or never visiting. Loneliness could lead to even more overeating or even worse consequences. This won’t be easy for ALF, but love often involves doing difficult things. Murial
Has she asked outright? If so, maybe you do owe her radical honesty. If not, then you’re offering unsolicited advice, which isn’t always bad, but more often than not. Or is she doing the hinting and subtle bemoaning that is essential a soft ask, without the commitment?
It feels complicated to tell your friend that they smell without volunteering to help her solve that problem. Which gets especially complicated if she doesn’t have the money to hire someone to help and there aren’t robust social services in her area. I think many of us would be willing to pitch in to help a friend with a massive project, like a thorough cleaning, once a year or so, but to commit to helping once a month (or more!) will get draining. And if part of her issue is literally cleaning herself—that’s a much bigger strain on the bonds of friendship. So, if there are social services or if she has the money, then there is more reason to bring these things up than if there aren’t.
Finally, phone calls, emails, texting are all ways to stay in contact without visiting. As is asking to meet away from her house, in open air, weather permitting. These don’t solve her problems, but they might help mitigate your problems. Zoftig the Magnificent
I’ma36-year-old old bisexual woman and I need some advice. My partner is a 38-year-old heterosexual man, and we have been together for 13 years. The sex in the relationship has been in a swift decline for the last eight years. It’s always been a sore point, as my sex drive is a lot higher than his, but two months ago we decided to open up the relationship. It was a good talk, and I think we made some real progress getting our feelings out on the table.
We made some ground rules: 1. We wouldn’t use our own home to meet up with people and 2. we wouldn’t have sex with anyone in our friend circle. He said didn’t want to know about any hookups I might have but I took the opposite position: I like hearing his sex stories and it would make me happy to know he’s getting the attention I think he deserves.
A week ago, I started talking to a guy who’s also in an open relationship. We agreed to meet up and have a chat. Things went well, and we ended up having some fun at his place. I kept it all to myself, honoring my partner’s request. This is where things get confusing. I think I might be numb, since this only happened last night. I had my best friend over. We were drinking, laughing, and having a good time listening to smutty audiobooks. Now when I get too drunk, I become quiet and somewhat unresponsive, but I don’t pass out. I’m aware of my surroundings. So, when I heard my partner say “let’s take to the bedroom” to my friend, I froze under the blanket on the couch. My partner then proceeded to take my best friend — who is in a monogamous long-term relationship — to our bedroom and have sex with her with the door ajar. From my position on the couch, I could hear her moaning. Later, he cleaned himself up and “woke me” and took me to bed. This morning, we all had coffee and then we dropped my girlfriend at her place. Neither of them said a word to me about their encounter.
I don’t know how to feel about this. I just feel empty. Should I be angry? Hurt? Upset? Should I bring this up with either of them? Give me some advice please, Dan.
Here’n Uncharted Relationship Territory Dan here: To find out what my readers had to say to HURT — to read some truly great advice — check out the latest installment of Struggle Session at Savage.Love. And if you wanna join our wonderful, informative, funny, and compassionate conversation about love and sex, jump into the comment threads at Savage.Love. New columns and podcasts go up every Tuesday and new Struggle Sessions go up every Thursday. See you in the comments!
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OCTOBER 17, 2024
GREAT LAKES SCIENCE CENTER